The Spirit of Communication

Think before you speak.

Words can be poison or they can be balm. James, chapter 3 warns us about the tongue, and we are certainly able to tell what spirit comes from a person when they communicate with us.

The communication from a mean-spirited person is anything but encouraging.
One of the problems with this kind of expression is that is is less than God-honoring, and crushes the spirit of the recipient.

If I see you as Christ Himself, and if you understand that my motives toward you are
purely righteous and in your best interest, then you will soon realize that the manner in which I communicate and express myself to you will be with the utmost respect and dignity.

If our conversation is anything but God-honoring, then we are also grieving the Holy Spirit. How can we expect those who are not Christian to be attracted to the love of Christ, if His Spirit is not flowing from us to them?

If we stifle and stunt someone’s spirit, then we lead them away from an epignosis (heart) level experience of Christ and, at the same time, grieve the Holy Spirit.

Jesus said, in Matthew 11:29, "Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and you shall find rest for your souls".

Now, if we are more like Christ Himself, we would also be meek and lowly in heart. And if we truly see the other person as Christ Himself, we will not only be humble, we will want to do our best to help them.

We need to incorporate the principles of fairness, integrity, honesty and respect for human dignity into our communication with others.

When we do, we will be obedient to the Scriptures found in 1 Peter 1:15 which says, "but, as the One who called you is holy, you also are to be holy in all your conversation(conduct)" as well as 2 Peter 3:11 which tells us, "Since all these things are to be destroyed in this way, it is clear what sort of people you should be in holy conversation(conduct) and godliness".